It is generally known to provide a surveillance system for an aircraft. Such surveillance system is intended to provide surveillance of the operational environment of the aircraft and to display this information to the flight crew.
Such surveillance system typically includes a single cabinet populated with the following components: an air traffic control transponder system (“ATC XPDR”), a traffic alert and collision avoidance system (“TCAS”), a terrain awareness and warning system (“TAWS”), and a weather detection and avoidance radar system (“WXR”). The cabinet is typically provided in the interior of the aircraft. Wires for the components of the surveillance system (i.e. the ATC XPDR and the TCAS) are typically routed from the cabinet to two four element antennas—one on the top and one on the bottom of the exterior of the aircraft. Such routing typically requires an aperture be provided in the fuselage of the aircraft.
Long range aircraft such as the A330 aircraft commercially available from Airbus S.A.S. of France and the B747 aircraft commercially available from the Boeing Company of Chicago, Ill. require the components of such surveillance system be present in dual, redundant form. The dual surveillance system configuration is intended to ensure that all functions necessary to dispatch the aircraft are present even after a failure of one of the components (and without the ready availability of spare or replacement components).
Other aircraft, particularly with shorter ranges, do not necessarily require all components of such surveillance system be present in dual, redundant form. For example, such other aircraft may require only a redundant or back-up ATC XPDR or no redundant components at all.
The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides the fuselage of such long and short range aircraft with the apertures intended for routing wires for such surveillance system. However, this has several disadvantages including that the apertures for the dual surveillance system configuration must be modified or retrofit (e.g. patched) to accommodate configurations having only one component of the surveillance system (e.g. the ATC XPDR) present in dual, redundant form.
Accordingly, there is a need for an aircraft having apertures for routing wires adapted for use with both a dual surveillance system configuration and a configuration that requires only one or more components of the surveillance system (e.g. the ATC XPDR) be present in dual, redundant form. There is also a need for a cabinet that is populated with one or more components of the surveillance system. There is also a need for a fuselage that can be easily manufactured and outfitted to various configurations. Yet further, there is a need for a surveillance system having one or more of these or other advantageous features.